Brennenburg
by Captain P-Sparrow
Summary: ...was the birthing grounds of the city now known as Macitoshland. When young Italian Marzia is sent to this foreign land, she'll have to face everything from dangerous gangs like The Barrels, the haunted museums of Guertena, and probably the most difficult of them all: coming of age. [shonen-ai]
1. Chapter 1

"That's the kid eh? The crazy one?"

"Yeah, the one who said he got jumped by a gang of barrels or something like that."

"Barrels?"

"Yep, that's what he said."

"Geez, the guy's a freaking nut."

"I'll say."

The golden-haired adolescent eavesdropped on the two upperclassmen as he looked at the boy they were talking about. Yes, they were talking about the faded-blond teen who reclined on those concrete steps, idly toying with his cell phone.

He wondered if he knew what people like that thought of him. He wondered if he knew that some people thought he was delusional. He wondered if he even cared. But he only wondered so much about this boy he didn't even know the name of because he knew he wasn't lying.

The Barrels were real.

* * *

...I stared back at the bus that left me in this new town, mentally saying another goodbye to the life I once lived. The only thing that separated this move from the others is that this time, I'm alone.

I picked up the pink suitcase from the dirt road and began my trek through the woods. In the day time, the trees were sparse enough to see past into the busy city beyond. That eased my anxiety a tad bit, but not enough. I needed to keep my mind on something else.

My purple-shoed foot eventually found a nice rock to toss around as I progressed to my new home.

I don't even know what to expect here. They told me I'd be visiting a certain address: 5000 Palm Lane, Macintosh Land. I didn't know if it was a house I'd be staying in or a camp. All I knew is, I'd be staying there until someone tells me I can go home...or onto the next location.

Donk!

The rubber of my shoe bounced the stone high into the air as I approached the edge of the forest, which ended in a beautiful downward hill peppered with daisies into the city of Macintosh Land.

A girlish yelp echoed in my ears, interrupting the symphony of wildlife behind me and city life ahead of me.

Suddenly, a girl was in my view. She was my age at the least, with lively indigo eyes and long silky black hair that had perfectly cut bangs to frame her round face. She was possibly oriental. She was clad in a white dress shirt with a denim skirt and suspenders.

"That really made me dizzy..." she groaned.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I approached her.

"I am," she said, straightening her hair "I must've fallen asleep in my rock form. Silly me."

Did I hear her right? "Rock form...?" I questioned.

"I'm a shapeshifter," said the girl "A stone shapeshifter."

I wasn't sure what to do at this point. This girl is talking nonsense. Is she...delusional? I should probably play along...

"I woke up just as you kicked me into the air," she said, quickly adding "But it's not your fault. It wasn't smart of me to lay about in the woods like that."

"Uhm, I guess so..." I said. Then I thought of an idea "Could you help me find this address?"

I handed her the paper. She scrunched her thin eyebrows, then smiled "Oh, you're going to Brennenberg High too?"

"Brennenberg High?"

I'm going to a high school?

"My name's Jennifer, I'm one of the students," said the girl.

So far, nothing else seems off about Jennifer other than the believing-she-can-turn-into-a-rock part. I'm still not sure how to feel about that. Was she kidding me? Did she mean some kind of clever innuendo that completely went over my head? I thought back to that moment when she appeared. Weird, while I was looking out to the city, it seemed like she came out of nowhere. And where did that rock go after I kicked it….?

"So are you new to town?" she asked, breaking me out of my speculations.

"Hm? Oh, yes," I said.

"Well I'll tell you now Marzia, you're going to love it here. There's tons off fun shops and malls at every corner. I usually go to the promenade, and the forest as you can see."

I looked around the city as she rambled on. It's pretty much what I'd expect Tokyo to look like: pristine with lots of pretty colors and complex design.

The only difference was that the streets weren't crowded or cluttered with traffic like you would think. It had a steady flow of people like that of a docile suburban area. Oh how I'd love to live in one again…

"Hm?" I stopped when I felt an odd presence beside me. While Jennifer kept talking, I looked down and saw a man leaning against the opening of an alley, sitting between two trash cans. His outfit looked like that of a bartender, but instead of wearing all black and white, his pants were gray and his vest was tan. He also wore a tan fedora with sunglasses atop the brim. He didn't seem to notice me; he just boredly inspected his cufflinks as if he were waiting for someone.

I just found it odd that such a nicely dressed guy was just sitting on the ground like a bum, not opting to sit on any of the bus stop benches or outdoor cafe chairs. Usually, I would leave the situation alone, but something about this seemed much fishier than it was letting on.

I suddenly jumped when Jennifer's hand landed on my shoulder.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

I glanced at the man, who still didn't notice we were less than two feet away, before whispering "That man over there…" to Jennifer as I darted my eyes in his direction.

Jennifer looked directly at him, then approached the alley. I wanted to tell her not to, but I knew the man would've heard me. She stood right in front of him and looked past him into the alley. Her left foot was right between his knees!

"I don't see anyone," she said as she walked back to me.

"What do you mean!?" I said in disbelief "You were standing right over him!"

"Marzia, there's nothing in that whole alley except for a barrel and a couple of trashcans."

"Wh-what?" I went over to the alley to see what she was talking about, a little frazzled. I slowed down the closer I got to the man, fearful of his reaction. He looked up at me with his brown eyes. Did he know I was talking about him? Did he know Jennifer didn't see him at all?

"Marzia, why are you staring at this barrel?"

Oh my god…she was motioning towards the man.

* * *

"Thankfully, you came in during the beginning of the semester, so you didn't miss much."

"Mm-hm." I could hardly muster full-fledged sentences as responses. The first person I meet when I enter a new town is a girl who confuses inanimate objects with people. Now she's labelled herself as my friend and goes to my school. Hopefully, we're not in the same classes or the same dorms.

"Well, here's the principal's office," she said before departing "Good luck."

I waved her goodbye as she disappeared down the marble white hallways. I was on my own now.

I carefully entered the somewhat silent room, only one person was in the office. She had her back to me as she looked at a computer, her purple hair tied in a neat bun.

"Ms…Alois?"

The youthful woman turned to me "Oh hi," she greeted "You must be Marzia Bisognin, welcome." She stood up and approached me to shake my hand. Her fingernails were a bright color of soft yellow that I admired.

"As you may have already been told, this is not a normal school," she said.

This ran my blood a little cold. I hoped the following statement wouldn't be as bad as I thought.

"This school trains technicians and weapons in their powers," she said.

"H-huh…?"

She frowned a tiny bit "Being a human, I'm guessing you've never encountered these races, hm? No one told you about this?"

I found enough strength to shake my head no.

She sighed tiredly. "Then you may want to sit down for this," she said.

I found myself a soft chair and awkwardly sat down, setting my suitcase close to my legs.

"How did you get here Marzia?" she asked, smoothly pulling over a swivel chair for herself "Did your parents tell you where you were going and took you themselves or…"

Oh, I guess it's my turn to fill in the rest "I woke up this morning and no one was home," I explained "There was a note saying I had to pack my bags before a bus comes to take me to this address."

Ms. Alois raised a lavender eyebrow "Is that all?"

I nodded.

"Well that's unfortunate to come here with such a lack of information. I'll say this now, you may not believe what I'm about to tell you."

Oh boy…

She hesitated a bit, as if looking for the right words. She finally gave up and frankly stated "You've entered an alternate universe. Here, we have races of humans that don't exist in your world, but you'll learn more about that later. Right now, we need to only focus on two: technicians and weapons. These races are gifted with the spirits of fighters. At this school, we train them at a young age to harness this power and use it for…Marzia, are getting this?"

"Yeah," I said "I just remembered that I forgot some of my luggage at a store I stopped by on the way here."

"Oh, well you should go now to retrieve it then," said Ms. Alois.

* * *

Marzia ran down the street without slowing down or stopping for anything. She was far walking distance from the school campus by now, but if she looked back, she could see it in the horizon.

Finally she dove into an alley to hide from any other witnesses as she pulled out her bedazzled cell phone. Her fingers shook as she dialed her mother's number onto the touch screen. She panted through clenched teeth as she awaited the dial tone.

No answer.

She dialed again and still received no answer. On the third call, she didn't even receive a dial tone.

"_She knows I'm calling and so she turned the phone off?!_" she thought angrily.

She dialed her father, then her grandmother, aunt, uncle, cousins she had never even talked to in years, anyone!

"Dammit!" in a short fit of anger, she threw the phone down, but it was caught by another person before it could hit the dirty concrete.

"Now what did the phone do to deserve that?" teased a mature voice. Marzia looked up to see a black-haired boy holding her phone. He was a little older than her; he wore a simplistic outfit of a black button-down shirt with a checkered tie and neat grey jeans.

She reluctantly held out her hand in silence to retrieve the phone.

"Running away isn't going to make any of this better," he said.

"What do you know?" she asked.

"Relax, Marzia, I was in the same position as you two years ago."

"Wh-what? How do you know me?"

"Ms. Alois told me since I'm going to be your tutor for a short while," explained the boy.

"Ms. Alois?" questioned Marzia "Just who are you exactly?"

"Martin," he said simply "A human like you who got called into Brennenberg. And just like you, I didn't believe any of the stuff they were telling me."

Marzia squinted her teal eyes, very skeptical "So…do you believe it?" she said "You really think we're in another universe?" she asked.

Martin smiled a little "I may have lived here for two years, but it only took me two days to figure that out."

Marzia stared off into space, in a daze caused by what she had just realized. The world as she knew it was no longer hers. All the things she's been taught to believe religiously and scientifically have all been thrown out of the window in her mind. Nothing she knew before mattered now. All that mattered was this fresh shipment of information. She was in another universe.

"I-It…no. You're in on it along with everyone else," she said "This has got to be some dumb joke, right?"

The elder only gave her a blank side glance with his purple eyes.

"Tch, thought so," said Marzia in false satisfaction. She only wanted to believe it was all a joke, but in truth, she wasn't confident about this theory at all.

However, Martin caught this right away "Fine, it was all just a poor attempt at a joke."

"Huh?" Marzia fell in the trap right away, not at all expecting this answer "Er, I mean, right!" but she wasn't about to let Martin know that.

"Your parents didn't want you to feel so down about going off to this boarding school," strung along the black-haired teen "But it seems like this entire "Harry Potter" -esque facade wasn't the most clever one."

"So my parents really did send me to Brennenburg…" said Marzia "And you're my real tutor?"

"For the moment, yes," said Martin "So come on, Ms. Alois can get your dorm set up and classes will start tomorrow."

* * *

I can't say this guy intimidates me the way he does everyone else. Sure, I've only seen him once from afar, but I can tell he couldn't hurt a fly and didn't intend to. However, I did know that he had some important material: an encounter with _them_.

It was free period. I could ask him right now what he knew, but that'd probably scare him off. It's the new semester and hardly anyone knows each other yet. Wouldn't you be put off if a random stranger asked you about a gang-banger experience?

"_He's coming this way,_" I thought "_I have to do something._"

Oblivious to me, he was just about to walk past me, when suddenly, by impulse alone, I grabbed his wrist.

He turned around "Hm?"

"Hey, aren't you, umm…" I looked down at his name tag "Pewdie?"

He paused, looked down at his own name tag, then snickered. "It's a typo," he said "My last name is Pewdice."

"Oh," I said "Well don't I know you from somewhere?"

He scrunched his eyebrows that were partially hidden by his faded blond hair.

Perfect.

"You must be a technician too, right?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said "I don't know which teacher, though. I hope it's Mr. Chair this year."

"Oh, he doesn't teach technicians anymore," I said, hoping to be able to steer the conversation where I needed it to be before he gets too off-track "But listen, I was looking for you because I'm your tutor."

"You are?" he asked "You look kinda young."

"I know, I know, but eighteen's old enough," I said "I'm Stephano, by the way."

"Felix," he replied "But my friends call me Pewds."

Some friends...

"Well it was nice meeting you Stephano, but I'd better go on to chemistry," he said just before the bell rang. He began to walk away...in the wrong direction.

"Chemistry is _this_ way," I corrected.

"Oh," he said, walking back "I missed a year, so I don't remember this place at all."

"I heard," I said "But don't worry. You can stick by me until you get the hang of things."

"Thanks."

This is going to be much easier then I thought.


	2. Chapter 2

The sweet chestnut blond yawned as she waited for her tutor. She fiddled with the rubber cat key chain, not that those keys mattered anymore...

The morning sun was taking its decent time breaking the horizon. She could see the slow progression from her high stoop on the roof of the school. The cold concrete she sat on pierced through sheer pink stockings, though, it wasn't too discomforting anymore.

Finally, the door creaked open and Martin had joined her "Hello Marzia," he greeted.

"Hi," she said as he sat beside her.

He noticed she had no items to claim but that one keychain "Where's the pen and paper?" he asked.

"Huh? You actually meant it?" she questioned in surprise.

"Yes, this is a lot of information. It's not like you're going to be able to understand it all in one sitting," said Martin. He sighed and said "It's a good thing I still have my backpack with me."

He unzipped the light-weight black bag and dove his hand into a sea of folders. It was almost as if he had taken a miniature file cabinet with him. Finally, he pulled out a crisp notebook with a pencil in the binding.

"Here," he handed it to her "I think the most important detail to start off on is the races of this world."

Marzia awkwardly held the pencil in her hands as she figured out how she would paraphrase whatever Martin had to say next.

"First, I should tell you that these races skip around in a family tree," he explained "No one knows why, but in a lot of cases, you could have one parent be a technician, and there won't be another technician child for another six generations."

Marzia wrote down: "_races skip around the family._" It made her think about her own family and how teal eyes skipped generations in the same way Martin just explained. Whereas everyone else had deep brown eyes, hers were as teal as the seas of the world.

"Secondly, these races don't gain their abilities until they're at least fifteen," said Martin "That's why Brennenberg is specifically a high school."

"_Only teens…_"

"So there are two fighting races, and you'll see why I say "fighting"," further explained Martin "Technicians are race that can summon a weapon out of thin air. It can only be one exact type of weapon and no, the technicians themselves don't get to choose which it is," explained Martin.

"_So on your fifteenth birthday, surprise! You now have the power to summon a gun!_"

"The second fighting race is Weapon…"

"_Wait, didn't he just say a Technician can make a weapon? Something tells me I'm going to get very confused with this…_"

"Weapons are people who actually transform their body into a weapon."

Marzia squinted heavily at Martin in confusion.

The black-haired boy caught this "It'd be easier to give you an example," he said "Let's say Ms. Alois was a gun-type Weapon. This means she can actually turn into a real gun."

Marzia dropped her pencil in belief "What?" she scoffed "Why would-"

"And this is exactly the reason Weapons, as well as Technicians, get tutors," Martin interrupted "Say Ms. Alois could turn into a gun. Whose going to be there to shoot it?"

Marzia still had a hard time imagining that. A grown woman turning into nothing but glowing matter until it shifted and shrank into a gun form that one could simply pick up and shoot. Sorta like…

"You met Jennifer, right?" asked Martin, interrupting Marzia's calculations.

The chestnut blond cringed a bit at the thought of the girl she believed was delusional, but she mustered a "Yes."

"Think of her as a Weapon. I'm sure you've seen her transform from a rock and back to a human before," said Martin.

That's when it hit Marzia: Jennifer wasn't crazy at all. She really _did_ turn into a rock right before her very eyes that day. "Then that makes her a Weapon, right?" she asked, hoping she was understanding this well.

"Actually, she's a non-fighting race. She's a shapeshifter," explained Martin "They're exactly like a Weapon, but they turn into inanimate objects. They're most often objects of nature, like rocks."

"Oh yeah," said Marzia as she remembered "She did say she was a stone-shapeshifter."

"Now, Brennenburg is only supposed to train fighting races, but Jennifer earned enrollment after saving a few students with her shapeshifting," said Martin.

"Saving?" questioned Marzia "What do you mean "saving"?"

Martin reclined against the stone wall behind them as he said "Well, a couple of students got into a little gang scuffle and Jennifer jumped in…" he trailed off, assuming Marzia would fill in the rest in her mind, which she did.

She looked down at her notebook page, which wasn't as filled as she thought.

"Fighting: Technician and Weapon-

Technician: make weapons out of thin air.

Weapon: turn into a weapon.

Both: powers at 15._"_

Below that was:

"Non-fighting: Shapeshifter-

Shapeshifter: turn into random objects."

Martin sat up and inspected her notes from over her shoulder "Oh, under "non-fighting" there's another race: Mage," he pointed out "They basically have powers over the elements of nature."

Marzia smiled; this was actually something she was familiar with. No fantasy novel with fairies was complete without one of these little guys.

"So you understand so far?" asked Martin.

"Yeah, this seems easy to remember," said Marzia as she tore the paper out and handed the boy his notebook.

"Good, and even if you don't get it right away, you could take extra studies."

"Studies?"

Martin packed away his notebook "Yes. Being human, we get the option of studying the biology of all four races," he said "Think of it like health class, but about technicians, weapons, shape shifters, and mages."

Marzia thought about it for a while. Could it hurt to fit in one extra hour in her school day? She already had private human classes away from the other students, would this just mean more work for her? It'd probably be the best if she was going to be the only one of two humans in a school of over a hundred students.

* * *

"Social Studies, Portal, Math, Science, Free Period, Technicians Training, and English," Stephano read off the schedule "Yep, we're in the right place."

"Aww, I'm horrible at Portal," whined Pewdie as he pulled over the laser gun he had slung over his shoulder.

They were outside waiting for the other students, and teacher, to come. The cool morning air was still lingering about, teasing the hair that just barely met Stephano's shoulders.

Pewdie clicked the laser gun on and inserted his arm. After fitting his hand onto the right internal buttons and controls, a white laser appendage extended from the spout and picked up a twig. Pewdie tampered the buttons inside to familiarize himself with the tool once again, resulting in pulling every twing on the ground into the levitation sphere, circling them around and around like a ferris wheel.

Stephano heard the door open behind him.

A boy just about his age with black hair and glasses exited with his laser hooked onto his arm "Hm? Pewdie?" his voice snagged with a faint southern drawl.

Said blond turned around "Hey Ken!" he greeted "Ken, Ken, check this out!" he waved around the fast-spinning ferris-wheel of twigs "Do you see these _moves_?"

"Pewdie, if you end up making another stick explosion like last year, I won't take the fall again," said Ken, shaking his head but hardly holding back a smile.

"A man makes _one_ explosion…" whined Pewdie. He then pointed to Stephano with his free hand "Anyway, I'm sure my own tutor would cover for me if that did happen, again, right?"

"Tutor?" questioned Ken "_I'm_ your tutor."

Stephano knew it was time to put on his best acting voice "Your name's Ken, right?" he asked.

Ken nodded.

"I saw your name right below mine," Stephano said "It says your partner is some guy named "Crystopher Ryan". I got Fel-, I mean, Pewdie."

"Crystopher?" repeated Ken "You mean Chris-"

"No, it was spelled with a "y" in it," pressed Stephano.

It was an easy mistake to make, but Ken was certain he hadn't made it. He knew he was paired with his friend this year. He remembered the exact moment when he went to that bulletin board with the paired names put in alphabetical rows. Weird, now that he thought of it, he remembered how his name was placed somewhat crookedly. It's as if it could've been removed with the slightest touch, without any real effort at all…

"Stephano, Ken, do you see these _moves_?" the twigs were now twirling in and out to the beat of imaginary music.

"I thought you said you were horrible at Portal," said Stephano.

"I wouldn't be if this was a part of the maps," said Pewdie.

* * *

Marzia roamed the halls that were peppered with students. It was free period for the students, and she needed some form of interaction besides just Martin. All of her contacts back at home couldn't be reached. Her private classes extinguished interaction with classmates, so roaming around the halls with a 5% chance of finding a friend was the best she could do.

"Oh Marzia!" greeted a friendly female voice.

Marzia looked up to find the blue-eyed marvel that she met the other day leaning over the top of the stairs above her.

Before she could even think of waving, Jennifer's dress shoes were clicking away at the polished white stairs as she descended to Marzia's level.

"Hi, I've been looking all over for you," Jennifer said cheerfully.

"Really?" Marzia didn't think Jennifer would think twice about their first encounter. It almost relieved her to now have a female companion around, but at the same time, she felt she owed an apology for thinking she was crazy.

"Yeah, I was just asking Mr. Chair if he's seen you," she pointed upwards to a green-haired, bespectacled man with a classy brown baker boy cap. He saw Jennifer waving to him from below and waved back.

"I help him train non-fighters like me," she said.

"Non-fighters?" Marzia then remembered what Martin had told her that morning: Brennenburg only trains Technicians and Weapons. Being neither, Jennifer had to earn enrollment.

"Yeah, we're teaching these two little youngsters Mayo and Torchy," she said "They got their powers a little early, so we took them in."

"So…what are they?" asked Marzia.

"Mayo's a table Shapeshifter. Torchy's a flame Mage."

"_Table…..what?_"

"You know Marzia, you never did tell me what you are," said Jennifer.

"Oh, I'm a human."

Jennifer's eyes widened "Really?!" she said in bewilderment "Are you related to Martin?"

"No, he's just my tutor," said Marzia, not fully understanding Jennifer's sudden "starstruck" moment.

"Wow, for a while now, Martin's been the only human here," said the dark-haired girl.

That's when Marzia realized something "Wait, what did Martin do to get enrolled here if he's not a fighter?"

Jennifer shrugged "What did you do to get enrolled?"

Marzia froze and answered "What _did_ I do?"

* * *

"Did you ever get the answer to number two?" asked Pewdie as he and Stephano walked down the carpeted hallways.

"47xy squared," recited Stephano.

"I thought so!" declared Pewdie, even though he hadn't even wrapped his mind around what the question was asking.

Stephano pulled out his keys as he slowed to his dorm, then he paused "I can stay over if you need help," he told Pewdie just as he opened his own door.

"You'd do that? Thanks, I always- oh hey, you!" he said this last statement when he was distracted by a pink pet of small stature. From Pewdie's door came an adorabley small piglet that immediately leaped onto his feet.

"_A pig?_" thought Stephano "_Are we even allowed to have pets here?_"

Speculations soon turned to fear when he realized a shocking detail. No other piglet was this small or had skin thissmooth with a perfect shade of bubblegum pink. No one but _him_.

"His name's Napoleon," said Pewdie "I found him two days ago around the school when I was registering."

Stephano stood in shock for a moment as Pewdie cuddled the swine.

"So you're coming in now or later?" Pewdie asked innocently.

Stephano wanted to make a direct U-turn back into his own dorm, but being right next door to _him_ was still too big of a risk. Also, he had to get a good word in with Pewdie if he was ever going to get this important information.

"Ah, sure. Now's good," said Stephano as he apprehensively followed Pewdie into his dorm.

* * *

Stephano marked the very last stroke of ink on his work, then placed it in his folder with a confident sigh of completion.

Before he could speak, he looked over to see his study-buddy had fallen asleep halfway through writing a sentence, leaving a faint pencil mark across the page where his hand slipped.

He could've woken him up, but Stephano figured that since he only had two more questions to answer, he deserved a rest.

Splash.

Stephano stiffened at the faraway sound. The only other sound in the whole dorm was Pewdie's soft breathing and the radio set on a very low volume.

Splash-splash!

Stephano stood up and followed the sound down the short hallway. It was coming from a closed door, obviously. It was so muffled, but the closer he got to it, the louder it became. Eventually, he could hear a voice: "I'm so pumped~ I'm so pumped~ I'm so, I'm so, I'm so pumped~!"

"_Wait a minute._"

Stephano swung open the door in anger.

"Oh hello Stephano," happily greeted the pink-haired adolescent that sat in the suds-overflowed bathtub.

"Piper!" scolded Stephano as he stomped over "What are you doing here!?"

"How many times have I told you I go by Piggeh now? Piggeh all day and all night. Yeahhh~"

"That doesn't explain what you're doing here," Stephano said, accidentally dipping his socked foot in a small puddle of sudsy water that escaped the tub.

"Oh, I'm taking a bath," Piggeh said as he hunched over the edge of the tub, suds sliding down the exposed parts of his body "Wanna join?"

"You idiot! That's not what I-!"

"Stephano?"

Stephano whipped his head around to find Pewdie in the doorway of the bathroom.

"Pewdie! I was just uh-I…" when he turned to face the tub again, Piggeh had returned back to his animal state.

Instead of any reaction Stephano had expected, Pewdie patted him on the back "Oh don't worry about it," he said "I know you didn't want to wake me up, but you didn't have to bath Napoleon for me."

Said piglet was wiggling its adorable nose up at its owner.

Pewdie grabbed a folded towel placed on the toilet seat (which Piggeh had planned to use earlier) and wrapped it around the tiny swine.

"Come on Napoleon," he cooed as he held him in one arm and pulled the drain with the other "Wanna stay over, Stephano?"

More so focusing on how easily he got out of making a weird excuse for the recent scenario, Stephano was somewhat caught off-guard by the sudden question.

He was ready to decline the offer, but quickly realized he may have to in order to make sure his little pig friend doesn't pull any tricks when he's gone "Sure, thanks," Stephano said.

* * *

**DO YOU SEE THESE MOVES?**  
**I'm addicted to that quote.**  
**So Portal (yes, like the game Portal) is like P.E. class to them (Portal Education HA!) **  
**So I know I switched up Mr. Chair's design a bit from what people had in mind. When you think about it, he looks like the anime Shifty/Lifty of HTF.**  
**Yes, Piggeh's legal name is actually Piper.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hinted Yaoi warning (yes, I will specify what type of yaoi every time)**

* * *

Marzia yawned lightly as she woke up. She had fallen asleep at her desk, pencil in hand and hair spilled over her workspace. Already bags were beginning to form under her eyes.

"_I thought having in-dorm studies would be easier for me_," she thought as her eyes traveled to the computer screen in front of her, which read "Chapter 1, section 3 test complete!" She smiled to herself, satisfied that she was at least able to complete her work before crashing right after.

That smile soon faded into an analyzing poker face when she noticed a familiar figure outside her window. Looking down from her fourth floor stature, she could see the man she saw at the ally just a few days ago walking down the street.

There was something not right about that man.

* * *

"So you started inviting Pewdie over to your house every night," stated the pink-haired adolescent as he lazily hung off the edge of the bed "When are you gonna make a move?"

"It's not like that," said Stephano, who was sitting on the bed.

"Right, and wearing his sweatshirt doesn't mean anything either."

"I left my jacket out on the Portal field," argued Stephano "And at least I'm wearing clothes."

Piggeh was only wearing the bath towel Pewdie often wrapped him in after a bath. No matter what temperature it was, Piggeh never seemed to mind.

"Besides, I'm his tutor. I'm supposed to be helping him with his studies and stuff," further argued Stephano.

Piggeh sighed, turning on his back "Fine, be that way," he said "But if you're not gonna hit that, I will."

Stephano whipped his head at him "You will not!"

"What?" whined Piggeh "You already said you're not making any moves…" he smirked "Unless you want him to go first."

"Just shut up, okay?" the golden-haired teen huffed, crossing his arms defiantly. The alarm on his wrist watch beeped. "Agh, where is he anyway? I've gotta go."

Pewdie was staying over at Stephano's dorm last night. The next morning, he said he had to leave early to run a quick errand. Stephano and Piggeh have been waiting for him ever since.

Stephano got up from the bed "Eh, I'll text him on the way out," he muttered to himself.

"Wait, _you're_ going somewhere too?" asked Piggeh, now sitting up on the bed.

"Yeah."

"Take me with you!"

Stephano was fired-up ready to reject the request, but then he remembered that Pewdie still believed that Piggeh was just an ordinary pig and would be very disappointed to find his pet all by himself in his tutor's dorm room.

"Come on," Stephano scoffed reluctantly "But you have to stay in pig form."

Piggeh shrugged and complied without a word.

* * *

Ken wore a smug grin on his face (and for some odd reason, a teddy bear hat) "Stephano," he said "This is Cry, a technician." In front of him was a chocolate-haired teen that almost looked like a child next between the two six-feet-tall adolescents. Combined with his child-like face and blue eyes, Stephano had to admit that he was indeed…cute. However, one detail did stand out: a poker-faced ceramic eyepatch.

"Says here that you're his tutor too," Ken continued as he pointed backwards to the bulletin board behind him. Smashed right underneath "Felix Pewdice" was "Crystopher Ryan" and Ken's space was blank.

"Hi," greeted Cry.

"Hey," as much as Stephano wanted to question the situation, he knew he had to keep friendly about this "Thanks for finding him for me, Ken."

"No problem," said the black-haired teen before he picked up a few suitcases "By the way, they didn't set up Cry's dorm yet, so he's bunking with you."

Cry nodded in agreement as he accepted the bags.

"Oh, okay," Stephano was a tiny bit annoyed with this. It was already a bit crowded having Pewdie stay at his dorm, where Stephano sacrificed the bed to sleep on the couch. With Cry there, two of them would have to share that bed.

Not long after they began to exit the school, Cry finally asked Stephano "What's the pig's name?"

Stephano almost didn't understand the question, forgetting that Piggeh was in his arms "Piper…I mean Napoleon!" he quickly corrected himself as he remembered Pewdie claimed him as his own pet.

Cry laughed a little bit.

"He's not mine," said Stephano "He's Pewdie's."

"Pewdie? Felix? The other guy you're tutoring?" he asked.

"Yeah, he left for a bit and is coming back to the dorm. I don't know _when_ he'll come back though."

* * *

"Aaaaaand Chair Mode Activate!"

A fancy green chair now stood in the place of the teacher that once stood in a flash of light.

"We're just working on your speed right now, Mayo," encouraged Jennifer "After we get done with that, you're home free!"

Mayo nodded and then closed his yellow eyes. His entire shape was enveloped by white as he morphed into the shape of a tiny table.

An orange-haired boy clicked off the stop-watch "Ten seconds."

"That's impressive for an eight-year-old shapeshifter," commented Jennifer "He's definitely ahead of his game.

A flame the size of a golfball formed in the orange-haired boy's free hand, then quickly extinguished "Hey Jennifer, wouldn't you be a Mage since rock is earth?"

The blue-eyed teen looked at the younger "You're right, Torchy. Rock is earth, but a Mage can control rock, whereas a shapeshifter turns into rock," she explained "I can only turn to stone, I can't control them."

Torchy summoned and extinguished another flame ball in boredom, a little disappointed to be the only Mage in the room...and possibly the entire school.

* * *

"I told you to leave me alone!….Skylar….No I-…Skylar…Sky…No-no….Shut the hell up, Skully!" The blond tossed his cellphone at the bed in anger, where it was then swallowed by the pillow.

There was a moment of silence as Pewdie stood in the middle of his room, staring at nothing in particular.

"It's his own fault anyway…" he muttered.

The sound of the door opening and closing echoed through the entire dorm. Two sets of footsteps followed.

"So why are they called tutors if we're really just partners?"

"At first, one was supposed to teach the other like a real tutor. Eventually, everyone who came in was already caught up on the same level, so we really are partners. I guess they're just too lazy to change the title."

Pewdie recognized the second voice as Stephano, but who was the first?

"Stephano?" he called.

"Pewdie?" he called back.

Pewdie exhaled, expelling his earlier anxieties now that his best friend was here. "Hey Stephano, how's…." he trailed off when he saw Cry.

"Hi," the chocolate-haired boy greeted.

"Uhm, hey," Pewdie was a bit put off by the ceramic poker-faced eyepatch.

"His name is Cry, I'm tutoring him too," said Stephano as he got a better grip on the luggage "He's bunking with me until an empty dorm comes up."

"Oh, okay," Pewdie shrugged off "Do you guys need help unpacking?"

"I think I've got it," said Cry, who then looked down at Piggeh snuggling by his feet.

Stephano grew a little suspicious as Cry picked up the pint-sized swine and cuddled him. Piggeh wasn't _this _affectionate with Pewdie.

Stephano mentally sighed. This isn't what he wanted. He needed to have alone time with Pewdie in order to get what he wanted. Now that Piggeh and Cry are in the way, this only elongates what should have been an easy and quick task. "_Well, it may take longer, but it's not impossible,_" he thought. And he would take that mindset with him throughout the entire semester if he had to.

* * *

Marzia leaned on her window sill. She had been cooped up in her dorm all day because Jennifer was busy helping Mr. Chair and she had no one else to hang out with. Sure, Martin was always an option, but she felt their relationship was solely business. Also, she preferred more girl-time.

From boredom birthed restlessness. It was nearly midnight and she still couldn't sleep. For now, she was just staring outside of the boring and incredibly quiet streets.

CRASH!

The teen nearly jumped right out of her swivel chair at the sudden noise. Disorientated, she couldn't make heads or tails of where the crash and the yells following soon after came from. Finally, her eyes set on a boy about her age running. He had a child-like face and bright blue eyes, yet his hair was very dark.

Because she saw no one else, she automatically thought it was just some kid goofing around. After pouting in disapproval at being scared over nothing, she closed the window and pulled over her thick magenta curtains to call it a night.

* * *

The panicked adolescent knocked over a loaded trash can in an effort to slow down his pursuers. However, at the speed and stealth they were going, that method may have been a complete waste of time. He could feel them getting closer and closer to him. Soon he would be snatched by the collar and in their clutches again, but he wasn't about to let that happen.

His fearful blue eyes spotted an open window on the third floor of a building. He jumped onto the metal fire escape ladders and quickly made his way from platform to platform to get to that window. He landed on the soft carpet of a bed room with a muffled, yet blunt "smack" noise. Had the floor been any other type or had there been furniture in the way, he would've woken up the three bodies in the king-sized bed just a few feet away from him.

"_What do I do now?_" he thought as his jaw quivered in fear.

He studied each person in the bed. All were boys that had to be around his age. The one on the left had average blond hair. The one in the middle had golden-blond hair that reached his shoulders. The one on the right had rich brown tussles and a white eyepatch.

The teen had to admit that this was a weird scene. It only got even weirder when he noticed the piglet sleeping on the edge of the bed like a dog. No, but then it tipped the scale when a brief puff of smoke shrouded the swine, leaving a pink-haired teen in its place.

"_What the hell!?_" having Piggeh's back to him, he used the opportunity to slide into the darkness of the open closet door to hide. Through his hiding place, he could barely see what was happening, so he just listened.

"H-Huh….."

"Its getting hot in here~"

Shifting, scuffling.

"So take off all your clothes~"

"Piper-"

Shifting…kissing noise?….and a very long pause.

"Who are you?"

"Eh, what the…who the hell are you?!"

"Goddammit Piper!"

""Piper"? Stephano, you know this guy?!"

"Yes! I mean, no! I mean-"

"Yeah, he snuck me in here for a little late-night orgy~"

"What the-?! Piper, you dick! I'm going to kill you!"

The teen inside the closet lost his balance as he leaned closer to the wall and ended up falling out, revealing his hiding space.

The four boys that were previously arguing were now staring at this stranger that had fallen out of the closet.

After a moment of silence, Stephano finally announced "Alright, everybody out of my room. Everyone. Out. Now."

* * *

The five sat in the kitchen. Piggeh sat with a bored look on his face as he carelessly tapped his fingers on the table. Pewdie and Stephano leaned on the counter. Pewdie looking somewhat disturbed whilst Stephano clutched a beverage, looking very annoyed. The stranger sat in his seat away from everyone else like someone being filed guilty and Cry sat next to Piggeh, trying not to fall back asleep.

"So…Napoleon…is really just a guy named Piggeh," said Pewdie.

"Piper," corrected Stephano "But for whatever reason, he wants to be called Piggeh."

"You're not my mom Stephano, I can pick my own name," teased the pink-haired boy.

Stephano snapped "You should have someone act as a mom to you so you know not to screw people in their sleep!"

"_That's_ what that was?!" Pewdie asked.

"I was only gonna hit first base," Piggeh then rolled his eyes as he said "But it was dark, so I missed and kissed eyepatch-guy."

Cry, at this point, had completely fallen asleep, propping his chin in his hands.

Like a father would, Stephano positioned him so he'd be resting his head in his arms on the table instead. His gaze quickly snapped at the stranger "And you," he said "What's your story?"

His blue eyes went down to his twiddling fingers "I'm Toby," he said "I'm on of the students here. I left the dorm to go get something from the gas station, but on the way back I nearly got jumped."

Stephano's expression went from scrutinizing to alarm.

"Do you know who it was?" asked Pewdie, suddenly just as equally alarmed.

"They called themselves Jones and Brad," said Toby.

Both Stephano and Pewdie felt disappointment that they couldn't recognize those names.

Piggeh idly played with Cry's tussles "Y'know, for someone who was half-asleep, he was a a pretty good kisser."

"Just shut up, Piper."

* * *

A man in a brown bartender suit sat on the roof with a lit cigarette in his mouth. The night's wind toyed with his faded fedora.

"I don't see why you don't take off your sunglasses at night," said the man coming up to him. He wore a black jacket with a loose brown sweater underneath. The collar of the sweater was silver and dipped down in an intense U-shape and exposed most of his chest.

"I don't see why you care," retorted the man, releasing a smooth, beautiful swirl of smoke.

"Brad," said the other "What do you think of Bro's offer?"

Brad let his sunglasses slide down his nose, just enough for his cocoa brown eyes to be visible "He sounds like great help…except that he was defeated by that girl."

"That Brennenburg girl…right, that is a major set-back," he agreed "But at this point, beggars can't be choosers."

Brad chewed on the thought for a moment "You're right Jones," he said "We need all the help we can get."

Jones smiled.

* * *

**1)Funny how Marzia and Stephano play as our main characters who never meet. While Marzia plays the part as the sidebar who witnesses everything, Stephano's the one who's really in all the action.**  
**2)If you're wondering what happened with the "Ken and Stephano's tutoring" snafu, it went like this: Ken was originally paired with Pewdie and Stephano was paired with Cry. On the first day, Stephano switched it so Ken would get Cry and Stephano would get Pewdie. Today, Ken went back and put Cry's name under Stephano's list so Stephano would be partnered with two people and Ken would have no one. (Well played, my sassy little Tsundere~ Well played~)**


	4. Chapter 4

"So, you like the hat?" the voice on the other end of the receiver said.

"It keeps my head warm," I said.

"Did people stare?" I could hear a grin forming on his lips as he said this.

"What do you think?" I said.

He giggled "See Ken, now you know what it's like to have to wear these glasses," his voice escalated from a polite whisper to everyday conversation volume.

"You know I wear glasses too," I said.

"_Reading_ glasses," he said "You only have to put them on for five minutes a day. I have to wear mine twenty-four seven!"

"_It's starting to get dark out,_" I thought "_I should turn on the lamp._"

"Hello?"

"Yeah, I'm here," I said "When are you coming out here, Mark?"

"Uh…as soon as Yami gets here," said Mark "We're transferring together."

I felt my smile droop a little.

"Well, I gotta go Ken. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mark."

* * *

"Aww yeah!"

"What!? How did you-!"

Laughter and fake explosions emulated from the front room of Pewdie's dorm. Toby, Piggeh, and Pewdie were playing another round of a multi-player zombie game. All was going well until Pewdie found a way to kill his companions.

"What the heck, man! You're not even supposed to do that!"

"You can't tell me what to do, Piggeh!"

After a few futile minutes of Piggeh and Toby rushing not to get killed my Pewdie's attacks, they were finally defeated and were brought back to the main menu.

"We're never gonna get past level one…" flatlined Toby in the silence.

Suddenly, a knocking came on the door.

Pewdie got up and opened the door without hesitation "Oh hey Cry," he greeted as the short brunette waved to him.

"Hey Pewdie, are you ready?" he asked.

"Ready for what?"

"To clean up the training room," said Cry

"We have a training room?" questioned the blond.

"_Now_ we do," said Cry "I sent you a text a while ago. Mr. Chair wants us to go help clean it up."

"Aww, why us?" whined Pewdie "We're not even in his class or anything."

"Mr. Chair said your grades need this for extra credit," sheepishly admitted Cry.

Pewdie's blond eyebrows furrowed in irritation.

He sighed and looked at the game he would have to abandon. Meanwhile, Piggeh and Toby were utilizing Pewdie's absence to advance in the game without being killed.

"Fine, I'm coming," resigned Pewdie.

* * *

Marzia sighed as she sat down on the grass for a short moment, the broom falling out of her grasp "How did the Portal Field get this dirty anyway?"

Jennifer, who was still sweeping up more wood shavings, said "They extended part of the school to make a training room for the more intermediate students," she tossed the wood shavings into an open lid barrel "You didn't have to help if you didn't want to. Mr. Chair only asked me."

Marzia looked back up at the soft-spoken girl "But I like spending time with you. I wanted to come."

Jennifer smiled "Well I've got something more fun we can do tomorrow," she said "Buella's friend is hosting a white party tomorrow night."

"She invited us?" Marzia asked, leaping to her knees.

"Yeah, we can pick out dresses in the afternoon," said Jennifer.

"That's great!" said Marzia.

Both girls stopped when they heard a muffled crash behind the door.

Marzia, being closest to the door, stood up and looked through the window. Jennifer soon joined her.

"Hey, it's Felix!" she said, recognizing the blond who had knocked over a barrel "I haven't seen him in a long time."

"Who's Felix?" asked Marzia, squinting through the tinted window in the dark.

"A technician that dropped out of school for a few months last year," said Jennifer "I've only seen him a few times, so I don't know what really happened. Some people said he got into trouble with a gang called The Barrels or someth-"

"Barrels...?" repeated Marzia.

"Yeah, but like I said, I never got to talk to him face to face. So these rumors could be completely wrong," stated Jennifer.

"_Barrels_…" thought Marzia "_Something about that…it just…_"

Meanwhile on the other side of the sound-proof door, Cry and Pewdie were busy cleaning up the spilled over contents of the barrel.

Cry's broom eventually it something metallic. He picked it up to see a key chain-like ring with four gold rings on it.

"What's this?" the brunette asked.

Pewdie looked over "That's my emblem," he extended his hand to accept the trinket.

"Oh," said Cry as he handed it over "Did you use it yet?"

"Of course," said Pewdie, stowing it away on his belt loop "The weapon is basically an iron fist."

"You get an iron fist? That's awesome!" gasped Cry.

"Well what's your weapon?" asked Pewdie, assuming by Cry's tone that his weapon wasn't the best.

"A Beretta 93R," grumbled Cry.

The blond blankly stared.

"A gun," stated Cry.

"Oh," said Pewdie.

As Cry swept up more paint chips and wood shavings, he said "Too bad Stephano has a sword, so he can't help me that much with my aim."

"Why would Stephano help you?" asked Pewdie.

"Don't you remember? He's my partner."

It only took mere seconds for the memory of Cry's arrival to flood back into his mind "_Oh yeah, he did say something about being his partner. Wait, isn't it "tutor"? Eh, I guess "partner" is more accurate_," Pewdie suddenly stopped his thoughts when he realized a special detail.

"Cry," he said "Where's your dorm?"

"Huh? Oh, they ran out of room. So I'm bunking with Stephano."

"_So he's living with Stephano. Just the two of them alone,_" for some reason, this irritated the blond a great deal "_Stephano better be sleeping on the couch_."

"I guess we're all done," happily announced the brunette, interrupting Pewdie's boiling thoughts.

Before walking towards the exit, Cry stretched and tossed aside his broom.

The boys had taken a much longer time than they planned. It was late at night now and nearly everyone in the Brennenburg buildings were either home, asleep, or both. The hallways were very dark and quiet, with only the boys' footsteps as signs of life.

Cry yawned softly and said lazily "I wish I had chocolate. Maybe I can get Stephano to stop by the gas station for a sec."

"_In your dreams, kiddo_," Pewdie venomously thought.

After a few more minutes of silence, Pewdie finally thought "_Why am I thinking like this? The kid's just Stephano's roommate. Even if they were…_doing anything_, why get mad? It's not like I actually like-_"

The blond stopped when he heard a familiar voice…and it wasn't Cry's.

"Hey Pewdie, do you-"

"Shh!"

Cry turned around to see why Pewdie had shushed him.

The blond had a very stern look on his face and his body stood rigid "Cry…" he whispered as his hand wavered over a fire extinguisher on the wall "Don't move until I say so…"

"Wh-what?"

Pewdie suddenly ripped the fire extinguisher from it's hinges "...Fucking Barrels!" and hurled it down the hall. There, it knocked the gun right out of a man's hand.

That man was Jones.

Cry froze. Pewdie breathed heavily as he stared daggers at the adult.

"Is this the kid, Brad?" Jones asked.

Perfectly on the dot, his partner casually walked out of the shadows "Yep, this is the one that got away."

"P-Pewdie…?" stammered a very confused Cry.

"Hold on…" the blond tugged on his rings. In a brief glow of light, all four rings placed themselves on Pewdie's fingers and formed a golden armer encasing around his right hand.

Jones tilted his head over at Cry "And who's the little bottom bitch?"

Brad only answered his partner's snide joke with a cold statement "A witness," he raised his hand as static formed between his fingers "Guess, we'll take them both."

Both boys looked in fear at the static. It was Pewdie who first took action and started pushing his friend back "Go, go, go, go!"

Both dashed down the hallway and turned just as a lighting bolt crushed the wall. Pewdie and Cry then barged into a classroom and shut the door behind them. Pewdie listened intensely to see if their enemies would simply run past the door.

Meanwhile, Cry stepped away from the door and grasped his poker-faced eyepatch. The ceramic piece was engulfed by a blue light before a blue surge ran down his arm and ended in the formation of a gun in his ready hand.

He looked back up at the blond and gave him a silent "Is it safe?" look.

Pewdie slightly opened the door, then opened it wider to peek, and finally nodded to Cry.

Both boys cautiously exited the class, looking around and still listening with weapons ready. Without a single word exchanged, the two silently roamed the halls in high hopes of getting to the exit soon.

That silence was soon broken when a bullet nearly blew Pewdie's foot off.

"What!?"

Still shooting, Jones leaped from the shadows. Cry just barely leaped out of the way while Pewdie was able to block off the bullets with his iron fist and land a punch in the man's side. However, the force was only enough to make Jones skid backwards on the linoleum floor and not enough to actually knock him down.

Cry gasped "Pewdie, duck!"

The blond caught a glimpse of Brad coming into view just before Cry shot a series of bullets at the man.

Brad simply stopped and held out his hand as a purple forcefield burned out the bullets on impact.

"C-Crap…!" shuddered the brunette.

The two teens were now cornered by the men.

"The guys totally lied when they said Brennenburg kids were tough," laughed Jones, carelessly aiming his gun at them still "What'd this take? Like, fifteen minutes?"

The two guys lead the boys down the hall, Brad's hand ready to shoot another electric jolt in Pewdie's back and Jones's gun ready to fire in his own skull.

"Cry. Go run," whispered Pewdie.

"What?!"

"Just go. I'll take care of these guys."

"We can't even handle them together-"

"Go!"

"Hey! Don't try anything, you two," barked Brad.

Cry hesitated for a minute as he sorted out his options.

Suddenly, the brunette had an idea.

He saw a water sprinkler on the ceiling approaching them. Without either men knowing, he subtly aimed his gun from his abdomen up at the ceiling.

"_Come on…come on…_"

Bam!

Not only did the one sprinkler spray, but every single one in the hallway did. In the short few seconds that Jones and Brad cringed, Cry grabbed Pewdie's arm and the two ran down the hall. Even then, they were soon pursued by the men again, bullets and lightning bolts included. Pewdie was able to block off most of the bullets and Cry was able to turn and shoot the bolts, but all four were struggling to see each other through the water and not slip. It was a close call, but finally the two teens found the exit. They continued running through the dark campus ground even after they were sure they were no longer being chased. They didn't stop running until they reached the dorms.

* * *

"You were sent for one job."

The purple-haired woman looked down disapprovingly at the boys before her. She had just gotten through seeing last night's security camera tape, which had showed Pewdie and Cry running a mock in the hallways and using their weapons at absolutely nothing.

Pewdie sat in shock that, in the video, neither men he faced yesterday were visible in the tape "_How is that even possible…?_"

Meanwhile, Cry fidgeted in fear of the consequences that lied ahead.

"For the fire extinguisher, water sprinkler, and overall floor, wall, and ceiling damage…." Ms. Alois typed away at her computer "I'd say $50,000."

Cry's eye widened. Pewdie's jaw dropped.

"I'm cutting off some of the amount since the school's funding automatically pays for repairs," said the woman "But actions like this will not be tolerated and there will be a fee."

"Ms. Alois w-we-!"

"We all saw the tape," interrupted Ms. Alois, already tired of Pewdie's "we didn't do it!" objections "Have it in three days or you will be expelled."

"But-"

"That's it! Now get out of my office."

* * *

"Wahhh!" Cry wailed as he clutched the pillow to his face "I can't get expelled! I was finally supposed to be good at something! Now Scott and Russ and Snake and Red and Raven and Spoon and Battle Star will never let me hear the end of it! Goddammit!"

"Those are weird names…" muttered Toby, sitting on the futon beside the distraught teen.

"Fifty thousand bucks in three days?" questioned Piggeh "That's a lot."

"I know!"

"What job is even going to give you that kind of salary?"

"I don't know!"

"I don't think there is one."

"Oh my god!"

Cry's phone rang in his pocket. Without a second thought, Piggeh reached in and answered it "Hello?…Hi Pewdie!…Yeah, he's sad…Really? Okay," the pink-haired teen looked down at Cry "Pewdie said he found a job for you guys and says to meet him at this address."

Cry lifted his head from the pillow to look at the phone screen.

* * *

The brunette was skeptical of the mansion coming into his view "_The street is right, the address number is right_," he took another look at the text his friend gave him.

"Cry!"

He looked up to see Pewdie standing on the marble porch of the glorious mansion.

"Pewdie? Pewdie!" Cry ran up to him, stopping at the bottom of the marble stairs "What is this!?"

"Cry, we now work for rich people," the blond announced in triumph "The woman living here owns a line of fancy bars and cafes. She's having a house party here in celebration of the new opening of her next cafe."

"And…?"

"Get up here, Cry!" said Pewdie, tired of having to raise his voice in order for the brunette to hear him.

Once Cry reached the top of the stairs, the blond continued his explanation "We're gonna be the waiters for tonight's party and then we'll be working at the new cafe."

"How is being a waiter going to pay us that much money?" asked the skeptical brunette.

"Were you even listening, Cry? A) she's rich and B) the cafes are fancy and iconic," said Pewdie "We'll have more than enough money by tomorrow."

"You're serious?! That's great!" said Cry "When do we start?"

"Tonight," said Pewdie "Now here's our uniforms."

He reached behind him and Cry's face fell into a frown.

On the hangers were two sets of silk white shorts, bow ties and cufflinks. In his other hand were two sets of bunny ears.

"Pewdie…" Cry said "What kind of waiters are we supposed to be…?"

* * *

**-PEWDIE PLZ.**  
**-So the first fight scene. I hope you're all impressed. Just imagine how screwed up that fight would be in real life. By the way, I don't know if I mentioned this before but Jones and Brad are named after barrel companies.**  
**-MarziaXJennifer. I'll be honest, I never plan out my ships. The ships just naturally happen based on how the characters begin to interact in the story. And it looks like Pewdie's a little jealous right now |=3**


	5. Chapter 5

Stephano fished for his dorm keys as he approached the door "_Jones and Brad, huh?_" he recalled the memory of when Toby snuck into his dorm for safety after being supposedly jumped "_I can hardly remember any of the Barrels' names_."

Stephano unlocked the door and casually walked inside. He had already taken the time to settle himself in before he thought "_Cry's not here?_" By the time he realized the absence of the brunette younger, he had already halfway taken off his undershirt in the process of changing into pajamas.

"_This means I can invite Pewdie over,_" he thought as he put his shirt back down on his torso "_And finally get to the bottom of this without having to worry about privacy._"

Anxious to get there, Stephano merely pulled on a jacket over his undershirt before he rushed next door.

Meanwhile in said dorm, Toby and Piggeh lounged about in the front room.

"I saw the look you gave Cry when he came in yesterday," teased Piggeh.

"That doesn't mean anything," said Toby.

"That's what they always say."

"Who is "they"?"

"People like you."

"Piggeh-"

A knock on the door interrupted the somewhat quiet debate.

Piggeh answered it "Hi Stephano!"

The golden-haired teen, not sharing the same enthusiasm as his technical friend, only muttered "I'm glad you're wearing clothes this time."

Instead of the tiny towel wrapped around his waist, the human swine was wearing wine red jeans, a pale pink shirt and an open wine red vest.

"Hey Stephano," greeted Toby.

"Hey Toby, could I borrow Pewdie for a bit?" he asked.

Piggeh raised his pink eyebrows suggestively "For what?"

This earned him a smack upside the head.

"He and Cry left to go get jobs," said Toby.

"What? Where? Why?"

"Whoa! One question at time, Stephie-boy!" said Piggeh, earning another smack upside the head.

"Don't you remember? They got into a fight with Jones and Brad last night after they helped clean up the training room," explained Toby "They had to get jobs to pay for the damage."

"What?! But it wasn't their fault!" said Stephano, shocked.

"We know, but in the security tape, Jones and Brad couldn't be seen. So it just looked like Cry and Pewdie were wrecking the place," said Toby.

Stephano was silent for a minute in awe. In was both a discouraging and unfair situation, but not the worst he's seen.

"_I guess I shouldn't bother Pewdie then if he's working for this money_," he thought.

"So where are they working?" he then asked.

"They're being waiters for this rich lady's white party," said Piggeh.

"Oh," said Stephano "Sounds sophisticated."

* * *

"I hate you so much for this you don't even know."

Pewdie turned to the glaring Cry "Hey, at least we get paid."

"We're in playboy bunny costumes!" snapped Cry.

"You can take out the "bunny" since she said we don't have to wear the ears," said Pewdie. Still, this didn't please Cry.

The two were in small changing stalls where they could only see each other's head and shoulders.

"The fact that this woman agreed to let teenage boys dress up like this and serve champagne creeps me out," said Cry, reluctantly tying his black bow tie.

Pewdie hissed sheepishly and said "Yeah….I may or may not have told her we were twenty…three."

"What!" exclaimed Cry.

Pewdie couldn't help but feel some small satisfaction from embarrassing and shocking the brunette like this. In some odd way, it was like an inside revenge for Cry bunking with Stephano.

"Look on the bright side," said the blonde, watching Cry uncomfortably adjust his cufflinks.

"At that would be?" seethed the brunette.

"Those shorts actually suit you."

"Pewdie I had to take off my boxers just so they could fit."

"You say it like it's a bad thing."

At this statement, Cry threw said discarded boxers at the blonde's unsuspecting face.

* * *

Ken lied on his soft bed in the dark room. The blinds of his window created streaks of orange street lights on his body.

"_It's nights like these I wish had some friends to invite_," he lazily thought "_I really only know Pewdie. And The only time we see each other is in Portal. Even after school, he's busy,_" Ken pushed his black bangs out of his glasses "_Sooooo booooored…._"

The vibration of his phone broke the silence.

The teen sat up and picked his phone off the night stand "Hello?" he answered, not even caring to check who was on the other line.

"Hey Ken…" answered the raspy voice of Mark.

Ken's face instantly lit up "Mark!" but quickly softened "What's wrong? You sound kinda..."

Mark grunted and said "Hey, uh, the trip may be pushed back a little. We ran into some trouble."

"What happened?" asked Ken, pointing out his friend's displeasured voice.

"Nothing too serious but I'll call you later to keep you updated, bye."

"Wo-" Ken stopped when he realized Mark had already hung up.

The teen stared at the phone for a moment until the light faded. He knew that was strangely out of character for Mark, but with the possibility that it wasn't an issue that needed assistance, Ken simply put his phone off to the side and tucked himself in for the night.

* * *

Marzia softly gasped as the mansion came into view in the dark area.

Jennifer, who didn't realize Marzia had stopped to stare, continued to walk around the water fountain and make her way up the walkway. By the time she reached the stairs, she turned around and called out "Marzia!"

The starstruck girl looked at her dark-haired friend and hurried up to her "Coming!" As Marizia's flats tapped away at the concrete, Jennifer's figure came closer and closer to her view. Her porcelain white skin looked soft to the touch, contradicting against the sheen of her ever black hair. The modest pink gloss she wore matched the pale pink bow she wore in her hair in trade with the red one she wears everyday.

Noticing this beauty made Mariza blush once she finally reached Jennifer's side. However, her make up prevented it from being seen. Both girls were then surprised to be greeted by two men only clad in black dress pants, dress shoes, and bow ties.

In their surprise, neither girl had realized that they had literally stopped where the stood and just stared in silence. Luckily, a friend of Jennifer's arrived to break the silence.

"Jenni!" an indigo-haired woman with a martini exited the double doors of the mansion and came out to greet the teens.

"He-Hello Buella," stuttered Jennifer "Uhm, this is my friend I was talking about, Marzia."

"Nice to meet you Marzia," the hand not holding the martini glass shook Marzia's "Call me Bluey or Buella, whatever you like."

The Italian teen smiled, glad that those uncomfortable few seconds were over.

The adult leaned in closer "I see you two got acquainted with the boys," she said in a hush voice.

Both girls were then reminded again and exchanged a discomforted glance.

Buella laughed "Ah, Flora always was quite a raunchy chick, completely bent on being the female Hugh Heffner," she said "Well come on in."

The girls followed the woman inside the elegant mansion. Floors reflected the people in white and the fluorescent lights. The music and conversation hummed in harmony.

Marzia looked to Jennifer "_I've never been on a date before…_" she thought "_Even if Jennifer doesn't think of this as one….I'd like to remember this as my first date._"

Meanwhile on the other side of the entire estate, a certain two waiters were having problems of their own…well really just Cry.

"I'm freezing," he said as he crossing his arms around his bare chest "Was it really necessary to have us shirtless too?"

"Well playboy models wear nothing but leotards all day," said Pewdie, filling up more champagne glasses "Geez Cry, it's called gender equality."

"Okay, you've been talking nonstop about playboy company facts all night," said Cry, placing glasses on his on tin tray "Why do you know so much useless info anyway?"

"Cuz I'm not as uncultured as you."

"_What?_"

"Nothing."

Cry squinted at Pewdie.

When the blonde wasn't looking, Cry picked up an ice cube from the ice tray with tongs and dropped it into Pewdie's silk shorts, earning a brief screech from him.

However, Cry was quick and placed the tongs back where they were and pretended he hadn't moved at all. Still, Pewdie gave him a death glare through his blue eyes.

Having a full tray of champagne ready, someone signaled to the blonde to serve them a drink. Softening a bit, Pewdie picked up the tray and walked away, muttering "So gonna kick your ass…"

Cry relaxed and leaned against the counter, smirking at his dirty work.

Soon, another body joined him "Did your brother drag you here too?"

Cry looked over at the older light brown-haired teen "He's not my brother, just a stupid friend."

The teen then glanced at Cry again, noticing his ceramic eyepatch "Is that an emblem?"

"Hey, you're the first guy to ask," was Cry's reply.

"So you go to Brennenberg too?" asked the light-haired boy.

At that, Cry noticed something "Are you…are you one of The Smosh Brothers?"

"_The_ Smosh brothers?" asked the boy, noticing the title.

"Ian?!" Cry gasped.

"Uh…yeah," said Ian, wondering why Cry was suddenly so starstruck "You know me and Anthony?"

"Well back home, you're kind of a big deal," admitted Cry "My sisters Red and Raven heard from the grape vine about your powers. They're really nuts about Weapons."

"Oh, never thought I'd see the day when I get fangirls," Ian laughed.

A dark-haired waiter whom both assumed to be Anthony rushed over to his brother's side "Did you just ditch me so you could go flirt?" he asked.

"I'm on break," said Ian, he then lowered his voice "And I'm not flirting."

""on break"? I only asked you to go get another tray!" whined Anthony.

"Yeah but on the way I decided I needed a break," said Ian "Did you know we had fangirls?"

"Huh?"

"This guy's sisters are our fans," said Ian, motioning to Cry "Uh, what's your name again?"

"Cry," he said "Short for Crystopher," he added, knowing the question was going to come up "And my sisters Red and Raven know you as The Smosh Brother-"

"Alright Cry…" interrupted Pewdie as he made an unexpected return "Time for you to-"

"Are you…?" Anthony trailed off "Pewdie?"

Cry looked to see Pewdie's face showed no sign of recognition "Yeah."

Anthony gasped, gripping Ian (who then wore a "don't touch me" scowl) "You're the Brennenburg guy who fought off all those Barrels!"

"Oh? So this is the guy you were talking about?" asked Ian.

Meanwhile, Pewdie tensed at the mention of Barrels, but did a great job at hiding it.

"Is everyone here famous in some way except for me?" asked Cry.

"Everyone?" Pewdie repeated "How're you two famous?" he then asked Ian and Anthony.

"Apparently we're _The Smosh Brothers_," Ian stated, already infatuated with the title "Twin gun Weapons."

"Wait, we're famous for being Weapons?" questioned Anthony "Not because we did anything cool?"

Ian frowned "You just gotta ruin everything, don't you?"

"I'm just saying," Anthony shrugged "I'd like to be able to say I fought off Barrels and lived."

Again, Pewdie's nerves burned at the thought of the street gang. He really hoped no one would dig deeper into the subject.

"You really fought off a street gang?" questioned Cry.

"Ehh, "fought off" is kind of an exaggeration," lied Pewdie "Rumors got around and I got into a tiny bit of drama with some. They _wanted_ to fight but I handled it before they could."

"Ohh, that kinda thing…" said Anthony as Ian nodded in comprehension.

Pewdie quietly sighed. They bought it and he was now home free.

"What were the rumors about?" suddenly asked Cry, destroying every last shred of relaxation Pewdie held in his body. If that wasn't bad enough, Ian, now convinced by Cry, followed the question with "Yeah what was all the drama over?"

Pewdie could feel every muscle in his body struggle not to choke the little chocolate-haired teen, but oh, was it an impossible task.

* * *

"Flora!" Buella greeted with open arms to the elegant caramel-skinned woman.

"Oh hi Buella," said Flora "I see you brought the girls!"

Marzia couldn't help but grin at the fact that she already had a good reputation laid out for her.

"You two go to Brennenburg, right?" asked Flora, brushing some of her brown tussles from her face "The same place Mr. Chair is teaching?"

"Yes," answered Jennifer "I usually help him around after school."

At this moment, Buella took a stressful last gulp of her martini, as if bothered by the name of the man.

"Hey Flora, didn't you say you wanted to show us the layout design for the next cafe?" asked Jennifer.

The woman clapped "I thought you'd never ask!"

At this idea, Marzia's eyes lit up like a child's. She _loved_ fashion and interior design.

"It's over by the parlor," stated Flora "Just follow me."

As the quartet of women walked across the mansion, Jennifer said "I know you like fashion. So I thought you'd like to see the room."

Marzia softly gasped "Aww! Thank you so much!"

It may have just been an average act of kindness in Jennifer's eyes, but to Marzia, it meant a lot more.

The caramel blonde was too awestruck to notice Jennifer's blank stare and slowing steps. It was only when she stopped entirely and covered her gaping mouth with her hand that Marzia finally noticed.

"Wh-Why is...Pewdie...? He's..."

Both girls were on the line of shock when they saw their fellow classmate in such attire.

"Girls? Girls!" Flora's voice was the only thing that convinced Marzia and Jennifer to look away from the blonde and continue catching up with their elders.

* * *

**~Believe me when I say this is far from the weirdest a totally a serious anime has shown me. **  
**~Wow, I did not expect to give Pewdie and Cry a Mean Girl/frenemy-type of relationship. It was kinda bound to happen since they have opposing personalities: Cry's introverted, vulnerable, and somewhat quick tempered while Pewdie is outroverted, confident and light-hearted. Sure, the two can play games together and get along perfectly but who knows what kind of friendship they would actually hold off-screen. My bet's still on "frenemies"**


End file.
